Overcurrent protection circuit and load driving device

ABSTRACT

An overcurrent protection circuit configured to limit an output current flowing through an output transistor includes a sense transistor that provides a sense current proportional to the output current, a sense resistor through which the sense current flows, a current limiting circuit that detects a sense voltage generated by the sense resistor and controls a gate voltage of the output transistor, and a current correction circuit that provides the sense resistor with a corrected sense current added to the sense current based on a difference of voltage between a drain voltage of the output transistor and a drain voltage of the sense transistor.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an overcurrent protection circuit and aload drive device.

BACKGROUND ART

A voltage regulator, a high-side switch, or the like is known as a loaddrive device that supplies a current to a load. In order to prevent theload drive device from being destroyed by an overcurrent or a voltage ofthe load from increasing rapidly, the load drive device includes anovercurrent protection circuit that limits a current of an outputtransistor supplying an output current.

A circuit which includes a sense transistor for providing a sensecurrent proportional to an output current provided by an outputtransistor to reduce the output current of the output transistor in acase of detecting the sense current that increases more than apredetermined value is proposed as one of configurations of anovercurrent protection circuit (refer to, for example,JP-A-2006-276990).

In such a circuit, in a case where a source-drain voltage of the outputtransistor does not coincide with a source-drain voltage of the sensetransistor, a ratio between the output current and the sense current maychange due to influence of a channel length modulation effect. As acountermeasure against this, a circuit controlling a drain voltage ofthe sense transistor is provided so as to make a drain voltage of theoutput transistor coincide with the drain voltage of the sensetransistor; thus, reduction in detection accuracy of an overcurrent canbe suppressed.

A conventional circuit may limit an operating voltage of a circuit formaking a drain voltage of an output transistor coincide with a drainvoltage of a sense transistor. In this case, it is difficult to make thedrain voltage of the output transistor coincide with that of the sensetransistor depending on a voltage of an output terminal of the loaddrive device.

Specifically, in a circuit of FIG. 1 of JP-A-2006-276990, in the case ofa high voltage of the output terminal, the operation is performed suchthat drain voltages of an output transistor M1 and a sense transistor M2coincide with each other. In the case of a grounded output terminal dueto a factor such as a short-circuit between wires and 0 V of the drainvoltage of the output transistor M1, a voltage obtained by adding asource-drain voltage of a PMOS transistor M3 to a voltage generated bythe PMOS transistor M3 and a sense resistor R3 is higher than a groundvoltage, and thereby, the drain voltage of the sense transistor M2 doesnot become 0 V. Due to a difference in drain voltage between the outputtransistor M1 and the sense transistor M2, a ratio between an outputcurrent and a sense current changes due to influence of a channel lengthmodulation effect; thus, detection accuracy of an overcurrent isreduced.

An aspect of the present invention provides an overcurrent protectioncircuit capable of maintaining high detection accuracy of an overcurrenteven in the case of a grounded output terminal.

An overcurrent protection circuit according to an aspect of the presentinvention is an overcurrent protection circuit configured to limit anoutput current flowing through an output transistor, and includes asense transistor through which a sense current proportional to theoutput current flows, a sense resistor through which the sense currentflows, a current limiting circuit that detects a sense voltage generatedin the sense resistor and controls a gate voltage of the outputtransistor, and a current correction circuit that causes a correctedsense current added to the sense current to flow through the senseresistor based on a difference of voltage between a drain voltage of theoutput transistor and a drain voltage of the sense transistor.

According to an aspect of the present invention, it is possible toprovide an overcurrent protection circuit capable of maintaining highdetection accuracy of an overcurrent even in the case of a groundedoutput terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating an overcurrent protectioncircuit according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating characteristics of the overcurrentprotection circuit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of a currentlimiting circuit and a current correction circuit according to the firstembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of the currentcorrection circuit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram illustrating an overcurrent protectioncircuit according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram illustrating a current correction circuitaccording to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of the currentcorrection circuit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of the currentcorrection circuit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram illustrating an overcurrent protectioncircuit according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of anovercurrent protection circuit and a current limiting circuit accordingto a fourth embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described withreference to the drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating an overcurrent protectioncircuit according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The circuit of FIG. 1 illustrates a load drive device 10 including anovercurrent protection circuit 100. The load drive device 10 includes anoutput transistor 11, a control circuit 12, and an overcurrentprotection circuit 100.

A load LD is connected to an output terminal 3 outside the load drivedevice 10.

The overcurrent protection circuit 100 includes a sense transistor 13, asense resistor 14, a current limiting circuit 30, and a currentcorrection circuit 40 and operates to limit an output current IOUT ofthe output transistor 11.

The output transistor 11 and the sense transistor 13 are PMOStransistors.

A connection between the load drive device 10 and the overcurrentprotection circuit 100 of FIG. 1 will be described.

A source of the output transistor 11 is connected to a power supplyterminal 1. A gate of the output transistor 11 is connected to an outputterminal of the control circuit 12, a gate of the sense transistor 13,an output terminal of the current limiting circuit 30, and a controlterminal 40-4 of the current correction circuit 40. A drain of theoutput transistor 11 is connected to an output terminal 3 and a secondinput terminal 40-2 of the current correction circuit 40.

A source of the sense transistor 13 is connected to the power supplyterminal 1. A drain of the sense transistor 13 is connected to oneterminal of the sense resistor 14, an input terminal of the currentlimiting circuit 30, and a first input terminal 40-1 and an outputterminal 40-3 of the current correction circuit 40. The other terminalof the sense resistor 14 is connected to a ground terminal 2.

Operations of the load drive device 10 and the overcurrent protectioncircuit 100 of FIG. 1 will be described.

The output transistor 11 provides an output current IOUT via the outputterminal 3 in order to supply a power supply current to the load LD.

The control circuit 12 controls a gate voltage VG of the outputtransistor 11.

Since a gate-source voltage of the sense transistor 13 is equal to agate-source voltage of the output transistor 11, the sense transistor 13provides a sense current Is1 proportional to the output current IOUT.

Here, a drain voltage of the output transistor 11 is referred to as anoutput voltage VOUT, and a drain voltage of the sense transistor 13 isreferred to as a sense voltage VS.

The current correction circuit 40 receives the sense voltage VS throughthe first input terminal 40-1 and the output voltage VOUT through thesecond input terminal 40-2 and provides a corrected sense current Is2based on a voltage difference ΔV between the sense voltage VS and theoutput voltage VOUT.

The sense current Is1 and the corrected sense current Is2 are addedtogether to flow to the sense resistor 14, and the sense voltage VS isgenerated at both ends of the sense resistor 14. If the output currentIOUT increases, the sense current Is1 increases in proportion to theoutput current IOUT, and thus, the sense voltage VS increases. If thesense voltage VS is equal to or higher than a predetermined voltage, thecurrent limiting circuit 30 controls the gate voltage VG of the outputtransistor 11 so as to prevent an increase of the output current IOUT.Since output drive capability of the current limiting circuit 30 ishigher than output drive capability of the control circuit 12, controlby the current limiting circuit 30 has priority over control by thecontrol circuit 12.

By such an operation, the overcurrent protection circuit 100 limits acurrent to prevent the output transistor 11 from flowing the outputcurrent IOUT equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

Here, in the case of limiting the output current IOUT of the outputtransistor 11 by using the overcurrent protection circuit 100, theoutput voltage VOUT, that is, a drain voltage of the output transistor11 is determined by impedance of the load LD and a limit value of theoutput current IOUT. In the case of grounding, the output voltage VOUTbecomes 0 V. Meanwhile, the sense voltage VS which is the drain voltageof the sense transistor 13 is determined by a voltage generated by thesense resistor 14.

As such, since the respective voltages of the output voltage VOUT andthe sense voltage VS are determined by different factors, the drainvoltage of the output transistor 11 hardly coincides with the drainvoltage of the sense transistor 13. If a source-drain voltage VDS of theoutput transistor 11 and a source-drain voltage VDS of the sensetransistor 13 are different from each other, a ratio (IOUT/Is1) betweenthe output current IOUT and the sense current Is1 changes depending on aVDS difference due to a channel length modulation effect.

In contrast to this, the current correction circuit 40 provides thecorrected sense current Is2 based on a difference of voltage ΔV betweenthe output voltage VOUT and the sense voltage VS so as to cancel achange in the ratio between the output current IOUT and the sensecurrent Is1. As a result, a ratio between the output current IOUT and acurrent Is1+Is2 flowing through the sense resistor 14 is constantregardless of the difference of voltage ΔV between the output voltageVOUT and the sense voltage VS.

As such, according to the overcurrent protection circuit 100 of thefirst embodiment, even in a case where the output terminal 3 is groundedand the drain voltage of the output transistor 11 does not coincide withthe drain voltage of the sense transistor 13, a current exactlyproportional to the output current flows through the sense resistor 14;thus, high detection accuracy of an overcurrent can be maintainedwithout being affected by the channel length modulation effect.

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating characteristics of the overcurrentprotection circuit according to the first embodiment.

In the graph of FIG. 2 , a vertical axis represents the output voltageVOUT, and a horizontal axis represents the output current IOUT. Inresponse to an increase of the output current IOUT, in the conventionalovercurrent protection circuit, as illustrated by a dashed line in FIG.2 , if the output voltage VOUT is equal to or lower than a predeterminedvoltage, it is impossible to make the drain voltage of the outputtransistor 11 coincide with the drain voltage of the sense transistor13; thus, the output current IOUT increases as the output voltage VOUTdecreases. Output current values are different from each other which arelimited to a case where the output voltage VOUT is high and a case wherethe output terminal 3 is grounded (VOUT=0 V), and detection accuracy ofan overcurrent is reduced. According to characteristics of theovercurrent protection circuit of the first embodiment, even in a casewhere the drain voltage of the output transistor 11 does not coincidewith the drain voltage of the sense transistor 13 as represented by asolid line in FIG. 2 , a constant output current IOUT is maintained in awide output voltage VOUT range; thus, high detection accuracy of theovercurrent can be maintained even in a case where the output terminal 3is grounded.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of the currentlimiting circuit and the current correction circuit according to thefirst embodiment.

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 3 , components similar to those in FIG. 1are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

Here, an example of the current limiting circuit 30 of FIG. 1 will bedescribed in detail as a current limiting circuit 30 a, and an exampleof the current correction circuit 40 will be described as a currentcorrection circuit 40 a.

The current limiting circuit 30 a includes a reference voltage source31, a comparator 32, and a PMOS transistor 33.

The current correction circuit 40 a includes PMOS transistors 41, 42,43, and 44 as first, second, third, and fourth transistors, and NMOStransistors 45 and 46.

A connection of the current limiting circuit 30 a of FIG. 3 will bedescribed.

The reference voltage source 31 is connected between a non-invertinginput terminal of the comparator 32 and the ground terminal 2.

An inverting input terminal of the comparator 32 is connected to aninput terminal of the current limiting circuit 30 a, and an outputterminal thereof is connected to a gate of the PMOS transistor 33.

The PMOS transistor 33 has a source connected to the power supplyterminal 1 and a drain connected to an output terminal of the currentlimiting circuit 30 a.

A connection of the current correction circuit 40 a of FIG. 3 will bedescribed.

The PMOS transistor 41 has a gate connected to the control terminal 40-4of the current correction circuit 40 a, a source connected to the powersupply terminal 1, and a drain connected to a source of the PMOStransistor 43.

The PMOS transistor 42 has a gate connected to the control terminal 40-4of the current correction circuit 40 a, a source connected to the powersupply terminal 1, and a drain connected to a source of the PMOStransistor 44.

The PMOS transistor 43 has a gate connected to the drain of the outputtransistor 11 via a second input terminal 40-2 of the current correctioncircuit 40 a, and a drain connected to a drain of the NMOS transistor 45and an output terminal 40-3 of the current correction circuit 40 a.

The PMOS transistor 44 has a gate connected to the drain of the sensetransistor 13 via the first input terminal 40-1 of the currentcorrection circuit 40 a, and a drain connected to a gate and a drain ofthe NMOS transistor 46 and a gate of the NMOS transistor 45.

Sources of the NMOS transistor 45 and the NMOS transistor 46 areconnected to the ground terminal 2.

An operation of the current limiting circuit 30 a of FIG. 3 will bedescribed.

A reference voltage source 31 provides a predetermined referencevoltage.

In a case where the output current IOUT is reduced and the sense voltageVS generated by the sense resistor 14 is less than the referencevoltage, the comparator 32 provides an “H” level voltage to the gate ofthe PMOS transistor 33. If the “H” level voltage is provided to the gateof the PMOS transistor 33, the PMOS transistor 33 is turned off and doesnot limit the output current IOUT of the output transistor 11.

If the output current IOUT increases and the sense voltage VS is equalto or higher than the reference voltage, the comparator 32 provides an“L” level voltage to the gate of the PMOS transistor 33. If the “L”level voltage is provided to the gate of the PMOS transistor 33, thePMOS transistor 33 is turned on and limits a gate-source voltage of theoutput transistor 11.

As such, the current limiting circuit 30 a controls the outputtransistor 11 based on the sense voltage VS such that the output currentIOUT does not exceed a predetermined limit current.

An operation of the current correction circuit 40 a of FIG. 3 will bedescribed.

Since gate-source voltages of the PMOS transistors 41 and 42 are equalto a gate-source voltage of the output transistor 11, the PMOStransistors 41 and 42 respectively provide currents Is3 and Is4proportional to the output current IOUT. The current Is4 flows throughthe PMOS transistor 44 to the NMOS transistor 46. Since the NMOStransistors 45 and 46 configure a current mirror circuit, the NMOStransistor 45 provide a current Is4 c substantially proportional to thecurrent Is4. The current Is3 flows through the PMOS transistor 43, and adifference current between the current Is3 and the current Is4 c isprovided from the output terminal 40-3 of the current correction circuit40 a as the corrected sense current Is2.

A drain voltage of the PMOS transistor 41 is higher than the outputvoltage VOUT by an amount corresponding to a gate-source voltage of thePMOS transistor 43. A drain voltage of the PMOS transistor 42 is higherthan the sense voltage VS by an amount corresponding to a gate-sourcevoltage of the PMOS transistor 44. A difference between the drainvoltage of the PMOS transistor 41 and the drain voltage of the PMOStransistor 42 substantially coincides with the difference of voltage ΔVbetween the output voltage VOUT and the sense voltage VS. The correctedsense current Is2=Is3−Is4 c offsets a deviation in a ratio between theoutput current IOUT and the sense current Is1 which is caused by a drainvoltage difference ΔV between drains of the output transistor 11 and thesense transistor 13.

For example, in the case of IOUT»Is1 and VS<VOUT, a ratio IOUT/Is1 underinfluence of a channel length modulation effect is reduced. At thistime, since Is3<Is4 in the current correction circuit 40 a, in the caseof a positive direction of each current in FIG. 3 , the corrected sensecurrent Is2 has a negative value. In the case of the negative correctedsense current Is2, a corrected ratio IOUT/(Is1+Is2) is increased andoffsets a change in the ratio IOUT/Is1 due to the channel lengthmodulation effect. In contrast to this, in the case of VS>VOUT, theratio IOUT/Is1 is increased, but since the corrected sense current Is2has a positive value, the change in the ratio IOUT/Is1 is offset in thesame manner.

As such, by virtue of an operation of the current correction circuit 40a, even in a case where the output terminal 3 is grounded and the drainvoltage of the output transistor 11 does not coincide with the drainvoltage of the sense transistor 13, a current exactly proportional tothe output current flows through the sense resistor 14; thus, highdetection accuracy of an overcurrent can be maintained without beingaffected by a channel length modulation effect.

In order for the corrected sense current Is2 to function as desired,characteristics of the channel length modulation effect in the outputtransistor 11, the sense transistor 13, and the PMOS transistors 41 and42 need to coincide with each other.

Here, a drain current Id at the time of saturation of a MOS transistoris represented by following Equation (1).

$\begin{matrix}{{{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1}\mspace{616mu}} & \; \\{I_{d} = {\frac{1}{2}\mu\; C_{ox}\frac{W}{L}( {V_{GS} - V_{th}} )^{2}( {1 + {\lambda\; V_{DS}}} )}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

In Equation (1) above, μ is mobility, Cox is a gate oxide film capacityper unit area, W/L is an aspect ratio of a gate size of a transistor,Vth is a threshold voltage, and λ is a channel length modulationcoefficient.

A channel length modulation effect is represented by a term (1+λV_(DS))in Equation (1) above. A is inversely proportional to a gate length L ina channel length direction of a MOS transistor. The length L of a pairof the output transistor 11 and the PMOS transistor 41, and a length Lof a pair of the sense transistor 13 and the PMOS transistor 42 aredesigned to have the same size. It is also preferable to design thelength L of a pair of the output transistor 11 and the sense transistor13 to be the same size.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of the currentcorrection circuit according to the first embodiment.

A current correction circuit 40 b of FIG. 4 includes a PMOS transistor47 as a fifth transistor, an NMOS transistor 48, and a current source 49in addition to the configuration of the current correction circuit 40 aof FIG. 3 .

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 4 , components similar to those in FIG. 3are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

A PMOS transistor 47 has a gate connected to the drain of the PMOStransistor 41, a source connected to the power supply terminal 1, and adrain connected to a gate of the NMOS transistor 48 and one terminal ofa current source 49. The other terminal of the current source 49 isconnected to the ground terminal 2.

One of a source and a drain of the NMOS transistor 48 is connected tothe drain of the NMOS transistor 45, and the other is connected to anoutput terminal 40-3 of the current correction circuit 40 b.

An operation of the current correction circuit 40 b of FIG. 4 will bedescribed.

The current correction circuit 40 b of FIG. 4 is different from thecurrent correction circuit 40 a of FIG. 3 in that the corrected sensecurrent Is2 is provided via the NMOS transistor 48.

Specifically, in a case where the source-drain voltage of the PMOStransistor 41 is reduced and the PMOS transistor 41 performs anon-saturation operation, the gate-source voltage of the PMOS transistor47 becomes equal to or lower than the threshold voltage of thetransistor and the PMOS transistor 47 turns off. Then, the gate voltageof the NMOS transistor 48 is put in the ground voltage level by thecurrent source 49 and the NMOS transistor 48 turns off. In response toturn-off of the NMOS transistor 48, the corrected sense current Is2 isnot provided to the sense resistor 14.

Meanwhile, in a case where a source-drain voltage of the PMOS transistor41 is high and the PMOS transistor 41 performs a saturation operation, agate-source voltage of the PMOS transistor 47 exceeds a thresholdvoltage of the transistor, and the PMOS transistor 47 turns on. Then,the gate voltage of the NMOS transistor 48 is put in a power supplyvoltage level and the NMOS transistor 48 turns on. In response toturn-on of the NMOS transistor 48, the corrected sense current Is2 isprovided to the sense resistor 14.

In the current correction circuit 40 a of FIG. 3 , there is a differencebetween the drain voltages of the output transistor 11 and the PMOStransistor 41 by the gate-source voltage of the PMOS transistor 43, andalthough the output transistor 11 performs a saturation operation, thePMOS transistor 41 can perform a non-saturation operation. In this case,an error occurs in offsetting a change in a ratio between the outputcurrent IOUT and the sense current Is1 due to the corrected sensecurrent Is2.

According to the current correction circuit 40 b of FIG. 4 , since thecorrected sense current Is2 is provided only in response to a saturationoperation of the PMOS transistor 41, an error of current correction dueto a difference between operation states of the output transistor 11 andthe PMOS transistor 41 can be suppressed, and detection accuracy of anovercurrent can be further enhanced.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram illustrating an overcurrent protectioncircuit according to a second embodiment.

An overcurrent protection circuit 200 of FIG. 5 includes a PMOStransistor 15 as a sixth transistor and an amplifier 16 in addition tothe configuration of the overcurrent protection circuit 100 of FIG. 1 .

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 5 , components similar to those in FIG. 1are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

A connection of the overcurrent protection circuit 200 of FIG. 5 will bedescribed.

A PMOS transistor 15 has a gate connected to an output terminal of theamplifier 16, a source connected to a drain of the sense transistor 13and an inverting input terminal of the amplifier 16, and a drainconnected to one terminal of the sense resistor 14. A non-invertinginput terminal of the amplifier 16 is connected to the output terminal3.

An operation of the overcurrent protection circuit 200 of FIG. 5 will bedescribed.

In response to a high output voltage VOUT, the PMOS transistor 15 andthe amplifier 16 are in an operating voltage range, and the amplifier 16controls a gate voltage of the PMOS transistor 15 so as to make voltagesof the inverting input terminal and the non-inverting input terminalcoincide with each other. As a result, a drain voltage VS of the sensetransistor 13 is operative to coincide with the output voltage VOUT ofthe output terminal. At this time, since the voltage difference ΔVbetween the sense voltage VS and the output voltage VOUT isapproximately zero, the corrected sense current Is2 provided by thecurrent correction circuit 40 is approximately zero, and only the sensecurrent Is1 flows through the sense resistor 14. Since the sense voltageVS approximately coincides with the output voltage VOUT, a ratio betweenthe sense current Is1 and the output current IOUT is not changed.

In response to a low output voltage VOUT, the PMOS transistor 15 and theamplifier 16 are out of the operating voltage range, and the sensevoltage VS does not coincide with the output voltage VOUT. At this time,in the same manner as described in FIG. 1 , since the current correctioncircuit 40 provides the corrected sense current Is2, a current obtainedby adding the sense current Is1 to the corrected sense current Is2 flowsthrough the sense resistor 14.

As such, in response to the high output voltage VOUT, detection accuracyof an overcurrent can be maintained by a circuit that makes a drainvoltage of the output transistor 11 coincide with a drain voltage of thesense transistor 13, and in response to the low output voltage VOUT, thedetection accuracy of the overcurrent is maintained by the currentcorrection circuit 40.

In order to constantly maintain high detection accuracy of anovercurrent in a wide output voltage VOUT range, it is preferable thatoperating voltage ranges of the PMOS transistor 15 and the amplifier 16overlap an operating voltage range in which the current correctioncircuit 40 normally operates.

According to the overcurrent protection circuit 200 of the secondembodiment, the current correction circuit 40 may operate to provide thecorrected sense current Is2 with high accuracy only in a state ofVS>VOUT only in response to the low output voltage VOUT. Thisfacilitates a design of the current correction circuit 40.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram illustrating a current correction circuitaccording to the second embodiment.

A current correction circuit 40 c of FIG. 6 is the same as the currentcorrection circuit 40 a except that the NMOS transistors 45 and 46 inthe current correction circuit 40 a of FIG. 3 are replaced with NMOStransistors 50, 51, and 52, an amplifier 53, and PMOS transistors 54 and55.

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 6 , components similar to those in FIG. 3are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

A connection of a current correction circuit 40 c of FIG. 6 will bedescribed.

A drain of the PMOS transistor 43 is connected to a gate and a drain ofthe NMOS transistor 50, a gate of the NMOS transistor 51, and anon-inverting input terminal of the amplifier 53. Sources of the NMOStransistors 50 and 51 are connected to the ground terminal 2.

A drain of the PMOS transistor 44 is connected to a drain of the NMOStransistor 51, a source of the NMOS transistor 52, and an invertinginput terminal of the amplifier 53.

A gate of the NMOS transistor 52 is connected to an output terminal ofthe amplifier 53.

A drain of the NMOS transistor 52 is connected to a gate and a drain ofthe PMOS transistor 54 and a gate of the PMOS transistor 55.

Sources of the PMOS transistors 54 and 55 are connected to the powersupply terminal 1. A drain of the PMOS transistor 55 is connected to anoutput terminal 40-3 of the current correction circuit 40 c.

An operation of the current correction circuit 40 c of FIG. 6 will bedescribed.

Since gate-source voltages of the PMOS transistors 41 and 42 are equalto a gate-source voltage of the output transistor 11, the PMOStransistors 41 and 42 respectively provide currents Is3 and Is4proportional to the output current IOUT. The current Is3 flows throughthe PMOS transistor 43 to the NMOS transistor 50. Since the NMOStransistors 50 and 51 configure a current mirror circuit, the NMOStransistor 51 provides a current Is3 c proportional to the current Is3.The current Is4 flows through the PMOS transistor 44, and a differencecurrent between the currents Is3 c and Is4 flows through the NMOStransistor 52 to the PMOS transistor 54. Since the PMOS transistors 54and 55 configure a current mirror circuit, the PMOS transistor 55provides the corrected sense current Is2 from the output terminal 40-3of the current correction circuit 40 c.

In the current correction circuit 40 a of FIG. 3 , since drain voltagesof the NMOS transistors 45 and 46 do not coincide with each otherdepending on the output current IOUT and an output terminal voltage ofthe current correction circuit 40 a, a deviation occurs in a currentmirror ratio between the NMOS transistors 45 and 46.

According to the current correction circuit 40 c of FIG. 6 , since theamplifier 53 controls a gate voltage of the NMOS transistor 52 so as tomake drain voltages of the NMOS transistors 50 and 51 coincide with eachother, the current Is3 c is proportional to the current Is3 with higheraccuracy regardless of the output current IOUT and the output terminalvoltage of the current correction circuit 40 a. A change in a ratioIOUT/Is1 due to a channel length modulation effect can be offset withhigher accuracy.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of the currentcorrection circuit according to the second embodiment.

A current correction circuit 40 d of FIG. 7 includes PMOS transistors 56and 57 and constant current sources 58 and 59 in addition to the currentcorrection circuit 40 c of FIG. 6 .

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 7 , components similar to those in FIG. 6are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

a connection of the current correction circuit 40 d of FIG. 7 will bedescribed.

A gate of the PMOS transistor 43 is connected to a gate and a drain ofthe PMOS transistor 56 and one terminal of the current source 58. Theother terminal of the current source 58 is connected to the groundterminal 2.

A source of the PMOS transistor 56 is connected to a second inputterminal 40-2 of the current correction circuit 40 d.

A gate of the PMOS transistor 44 is connected to a gate and a drain ofthe PMOS transistor 57 and one terminal of the current source 59. Theother terminal of the current source 59 is connected to the groundterminal 2.

A source of the PMOS transistor 57 is connected to a first inputterminal 40-1 of the current correction circuit 40 d.

An operation of the current correction circuit 40 d of FIG. 7 will bedescribed.

A gate voltage of the PMOS transistor 56 is lower than an output voltageVOUT provided to a second input terminal 40-2 of the current correctioncircuit 40 d by an amount corresponding to the gate-source voltage ofthe PMOS transistor 56. A gate voltage of the PMOS transistor 57 is alsolower than a sense voltage VS provided to the first input terminal 40-1by an amount corresponding to a gate-source voltage of the PMOStransistor 57.

In the current correction circuit 40 c of FIG. 6 , in response to a lowpower supply voltage of the power supply terminal 1, source-drainvoltages of the PMOS transistors 41 and 42 are reduced, and although theoutput transistor 11 performs a saturation operation, the PMOStransistors 41 and 42 can perform a non-saturation operation. In thiscase, an error occurs in offsetting a change in a ratio between theoutput current IOUT and the sense current Is1 due to the corrected sensecurrent Is2.

According to the current correction circuit 40 d of FIG. 7 , since gatevoltages of the PMOS transistors 43 and 44 are respectively lower thanthe output voltage VOUT and the sense voltage VS, the respective sourcevoltages of the PMOS transistors 43 and 44 are also reduced, and thePMOS transistors 41 and 42 are easy to perform a saturation operation.An error of current correction due to a difference between operationstates of the output transistor 11 and the PMOS transistors 41 and 42can be suppressed, and detection accuracy of an overcurrent at the timeof the low power supply voltage can be enhanced.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of the currentcorrection circuit according to the second embodiment.

A current correction circuit 40 e of FIG. 8 includes resistors 60 and 61as a first resistor and a second resistor, an amplifier 62, an NMOStransistor 63, and PMOS transistors 64 and 65, in addition to thecurrent correction circuit 40 a of FIG. 3 .

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 8 , components similar to those in FIG. 3are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

A connection of the current correction circuit 40 e of FIG. 8 will bedescribed.

The amplifier 62 has a non-inverting input terminal connected to a firstinput terminal 40-1 of the current correction circuit 40 e, an invertinginput terminal connected to one terminal of the resistor 60 and a sourceof the NMOS transistor 63, and an output terminal connected to a gate ofthe NMOS transistor 63. The other terminal of the resistor 60 isconnected to a second input terminal 40-2 of the current correctioncircuit 40 e.

A drain of the NMOS transistor 63 is connected to one terminal of theresistor 61 and a gate of the PMOS transistor 43. The other terminal ofthe resistor 61 is connected to a gate of the PMOS transistor 44 and agate and a drain of the PMOS transistor 65.

A source of the PMOS transistor 65 is connected to a gate and a drain ofthe PMOS transistor 64. A source of the PMOS transistor 64 is connectedto the power supply terminal 1.

An operation of the current correction circuit 40 e of FIG. 8 will bedescribed.

The amplifier 62 controls a gate voltage of the NMOS transistor 63 so asto make a voltage of the inverting input terminal coincide with avoltage of the non-inverting input. The voltage of the inverting inputterminal of the amplifier 62 is the same as the sense voltage VS, and avoltage equal to the voltage difference ΔV between the sense voltage VSand the output voltage VOUT is generated at both ends of the resistor60. The voltage difference ΔV is voltage-to-current converted by theresistor 60, and a current proportional to the voltage difference ΔVflows through the resistor 60. The current flowing through the resistor60 flows to the resistor 61 through the source and drain of the NMOStransistor 63. If resistance values of the resistor 60 and the resistor61 are designed to be equal to each other, a voltage ΔVc equal to thevoltage difference ΔV is generated at both ends of the resistor 61.Since a gate voltage difference between the PMOS transistors 43 and 44is ΔVc, the corrected sense current Is2 for offsetting a deviation of aratio between the output current IOUT and the sense current Is1 causedby the voltage difference ΔV is provided from the output terminal 40-3of the current correction circuit 40 e in the same manner as in thecurrent correction circuit of FIG. 3 .

The gate voltage of the PMOS transistor 44 is lower than the powersupply voltage by an amount corresponding to the gate-source voltages ofthe PMOS transistors 64 and 65. Since a source voltage of the PMOStransistor 44 is also reduced, the PMOS transistor 42 is easy to performa saturation operation, and although the output transistor 11 performs asaturation operation, the PMOS transistor 42 can avoid to perform anon-saturation operation.

According to the current correction circuit 40 e of FIG. 8 , even in acase where the output voltage VOUT becomes a negative voltage lower thana voltage of the ground terminal 2, the corrected sense current Is2 isprovided based on the voltage difference ΔV between the sense voltage VSand the output voltage VOUT. A change in a ratio IOUT/Is1 due to achannel length modulation effect can be offset over a wider outputvoltage VOUT range including a negative voltage.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram illustrating an overcurrent protectioncircuit according to a third embodiment.

An overcurrent protection circuit 300 of FIG. 9 is the same as theovercurrent protection circuit 200 of FIG. 5 except that the amplifier16 in the overcurrent protection circuit 200 of FIG. 5 is replaced withPMOS transistors 17, 18, and 19 and the NMOS transistors 20 and 21.

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 9 , components similar to those in FIG. 5are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

A connection of the overcurrent protection circuit 300 of FIG. 9 will bedescribed.

The PMOS transistor 17 has a gate connected to a gate of the sensetransistor 13, a source connected to the power supply terminal 1, and adrain connected to a source of the PMOS transistor 18. A gate of thePMOS transistor 18 is connected to a gate and a drain of the PMOStransistor 19, a gate of the PMOS transistor 15, and a drain of the NMOStransistor 21. A drain of the PMOS transistor 18 is connected to a gateand a drain of the NMOS transistor 20 and a gate of the NMOS transistor21. Sources of the NMOS transistors 20 and 21 are connected to theground terminal 2.

An operation of the overcurrent protection circuit 300 of FIG. 9 will bedescribed.

The PMOS transistor 17 provides a second sense current Is5 proportionalto the sense current Is1 provided by the sense transistor 13. The secondsense current Is5 flows to the NMOS transistor 20 through the PMOStransistor 18. Since the NMOS transistors 20 and 21 configure a currentmirror circuit, the NMOS transistor 21 provides a current Is5 cproportional to the current Is5. The current Is5 c flows through thePMOS transistor 19. By appropriately designing a size of eachtransistor, a drain voltage of the PMOS transistor 17 and a drainvoltage (the sense voltage VS) of the sense transistor 13 each coincidewith the output voltage VOUT.

Since both the second sense current Is5 and the current Is5 cproportional to the second sense current Is5 are reduced in response toa reduced output current IOUT, the overcurrent protection circuit 300consumes a small amount of current.

The overcurrent protection circuit 300 according to the third embodimentcan obtain the same effect as the overcurrent protection circuit 200according to the second embodiment and can reduce current consumption.

Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram illustrating another example of theovercurrent protection circuit and the current limiting circuitaccording to a fourth embodiment.

An overcurrent protection circuit 400 of FIG. 10 is the same as theovercurrent protection circuit 100 of FIG. 1 except that the senseresistor 14 in the overcurrent protection circuit 100 of FIG. 1 isreplaced with an NMOS transistor 22. A current limiting circuit 30 bincludes an NMOS transistor 34, a resistor 35, and a PMOS transistor 36.

In the circuit diagram of FIG. 10 , components similar to those in FIG.1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof are omitted.

Connections of the overcurrent protection circuit 400 and the currentlimiting circuit 30 b of FIG. 10 will be described.

The NMOS transistor 22 has a gate and a drain connected to the outputterminal 40-3 of the current correction circuit 40 and an input terminalof the current limiting circuit 30 b, and a source connected to theground terminal 2.

The NMOS transistor 34 has a gate connected to the input terminal of thecurrent limiting circuit 30 b, a source connected to the ground terminal2, and a drain connected to one terminal of the resistor 35 and a gateof the PMOS transistor 36. The other terminal of the resistor 35 isconnected to the power supply terminal 1.

The PMOS transistor 36 has a source connected to the power supplyterminal 1 and a drain connected to an output terminal of the currentlimiting circuit 30 b.

Operations of the overcurrent protection circuit 400 and the currentlimiting circuit 30 b of FIG. 10 will be described.

A current obtained by adding the sense current Is1 provided by the sensetransistor 13 to the corrected sense current Is2 provided by the currentcorrection circuit 40 flows through the NMOS transistor 22. A sensevoltage based on a current Is1+Is2 is generated as a gate-drain voltageof the NMOS transistor 22 to be provided to the input terminal of thecurrent limiting circuit 30 b.

The NMOS transistor 34 receives the sense voltage through a gate thereofand provides a voltage to the resistor 35 proportional to the currentIs1+Is2. A voltage proportional to the current Is1+Is2 is generated atboth ends of the resistor 35.

In a case where the output current IOUT is reduced and the voltagegenerated by the resistor 35 is less than a threshold voltage of thePMOS transistor 36, the PMOS transistor 36 is turned off; thus, theoutput current IOUT of the output transistor 11 is not limited.

In a case where the output current IOUT increases and the voltagegenerated by the resistor 35 is equal to or higher than a thresholdvoltage of the PMOS transistor 36, the PMOS transistor 36 is turned on;thus, a gate-source voltage of the output transistor 11 is limited.

As such, the current limiting circuit 30 b controls the outputtransistor 11 such that the output current IOUT does not exceed apredetermined limit current.

According to the overcurrent protection circuit 400 of the fourthembodiment, the overcurrent protection circuit can be configured with asmall number of elements; thus, the same effect as that in theovercurrent protection circuit according to the first embodiment can beobtained with a smaller circuit area.

Although embodiments of the present invention are described above, thepresent invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, andit is needless to say that various modifications can be made withoutdeparting from the idea of the present invention.

For example, the current limiting circuit 30 b of FIG. 10 may be appliedto each of the overcurrent protection circuits according to the first,second, and third embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. An overcurrent protection circuit configured tolimit an output current flowing through an output transistor, theovercurrent protection circuit comprising: a sense transistor throughwhich a sense current proportional to the output current flows; a senseresistor through which the sense current flows; a current limitingcircuit that detects a sense voltage generated in the sense resistor andcontrols a gate voltage of the output transistor; and a currentcorrection circuit that causes a corrected sense current added to thesense current to flow through the sense resistor based on a differenceof voltage between a drain voltage of the output transistor and a drainvoltage of the sense transistor, wherein the current correction circuitincludes a first input terminal connected to a drain of the sensetransistor, a second input terminal connected to a drain of the outputtransistor, and an output terminal connected to the sense resistor, andcauses the corrected sense current to flow from the output terminal; andwherein the current correction circuit includes a control terminalconnected to a gate of the sense transistor, a first transistor and asecond transistor each having a gate connected to the control terminal,a third transistor having a source connected to a drain of the firsttransistor, and a fourth transistor having a source connected to a drainof the second transistor, and a gate voltage difference between thethird transistor and the fourth transistor corresponds to a drainvoltage difference between the sense transistor and the outputtransistor, and a difference current between a current flowing throughthe first transistor and a current flowing through the second transistorflows as the corrected sense current.
 2. The overcurrent protectioncircuit according to claim 1, wherein gate lengths of the firsttransistor and the output transistor are equal to each other, and gatelengths of the second transistor and the sense transistor are equal toeach other.
 3. The overcurrent protection circuit according to claim 1,wherein the current correction circuit further includes a fifthtransistor having a gate connected to the drain of the first transistor,and the current correction circuit switches on/off of an output of thecorrected sense current according to an on/off state of the fifthtransistor.
 4. The overcurrent protection circuit according to claim 1,wherein a gate of the third transistor is connected to the second inputterminal, and a gate of the fourth transistor is connected to the firstinput terminal.
 5. The overcurrent protection circuit according to claim1, wherein the current correction circuit includes a first resistor, asecond resistor, and an amplifier having a non-inverting input terminalconnected to the first input terminal and an inverting input terminalconnected to one terminal of the first resistor, the other terminal ofthe first resistor is connected to the second input terminal, a currentflowing through the first resistor flows to the second resistor, andboth ends of the second resistor are respectively connected to a gate ofthe third transistor and a gate of the fourth transistor.
 6. Theovercurrent protection circuit according to claim 1, further comprising:a sixth transistor having a source connected to the sense transistor anda drain connected to the sense resistor, wherein a source voltage of thesixth transistor coincides with the drain voltage of the outputtransistor.
 7. The overcurrent protection circuit according to claim 1,further comprising: a sixth transistor having a source connected to thesense transistor and a drain connected to the sense resistor, wherein asource voltage of the sixth transistor coincides with the drain voltageof the output transistor.
 8. The overcurrent protection circuitaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a sixth transistor having asource connected to the sense transistor and a drain connected to thesense resistor, wherein a source voltage of the sixth transistorcoincides with the drain voltage of the output transistor.
 9. Theovercurrent protection circuit according to claim 2, further comprising:a sixth transistor having a source connected to the sense transistor anda drain connected to the sense resistor, wherein a source voltage of thesixth transistor coincides with the drain voltage of the outputtransistor.
 10. A load drive device comprising: an output transistorthat causes an output current to flow through a load; a control circuitthat controls a gate voltage of the output transistor; and theovercurrent protection circuit according to claim 1 that limits theoutput current according to the gate voltage and a drain voltage of theoutput transistor.